Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL lifted its holdings in HCA Healthcare Inc (NYSE:HCA) by 261.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,500 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 42,300 shares during the period. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL’s holdings in HCA Healthcare were worth $8,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 3,350.7% in the 3rd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 205,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,530,000 after purchasing an additional 199,135 shares during the period. HL Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. HL Financial Services LLC now owns 101,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,128 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 103.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of HCA Healthcare by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 748,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,111,000 after purchasing an additional 32,958 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of HCA Healthcare in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $340,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.84% of the company’s stock.

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A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 30th. SunTrust Banks lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare to $150.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 4th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of HCA Healthcare in a report on Thursday, August 2nd. Leerink Swann lifted their price target on shares of HCA Healthcare from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 26th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of HCA Healthcare to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. HCA Healthcare currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $141.53.

In other news, SVP Deborah M. Reiner sold 723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.06, for a total value of $97,648.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $835,211.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael S. Cuffe sold 4,943 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.90, for a total transaction of $701,411.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,716,756. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,486 shares of company stock worth $3,079,086. Insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Shares of HCA stock opened at $143.95 on Friday. HCA Healthcare Inc has a 1 year low of $74.26 and a 1 year high of $144.18. The firm has a market cap of $48.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.48.

HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 30th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $11.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.29 billion. HCA Healthcare had a net margin of 6.82% and a negative return on equity of 73.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that HCA Healthcare Inc will post 9.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 3rd will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 30th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. HCA Healthcare’s payout ratio is currently 21.24%.

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